Diné grassroots sow precedent in clean energy history
By Talli Nauman, originally published by Esperanza Project
December 1, 2020
KYKOTSMOVI VILLAGE, Arizona – Some 30 years ago, when Navajo Nation member Nicole Horseherder returned to her Native land after college, her hopes of building a home like her grandmother’s near here were dampened because wells had dried up with massive coal strip mining and power plant development that drained the underground water tables while polluting Diné and Hopi communities.
Horseherder found herself shifting in the saddle. Instead of teaching school as planned, she began campaigning for restoration of clean water, land, and air in this Navajo-Hopi ancestral indigenous territory, which is known as the Four Corners area because the boundaries of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico states meet here.
Having founded the non-profit Tó Nizhóní Ání (Beautiful Water Speaks) in 2001 for that purpose, Horseherder was glad to receive the news of Arizona Public Service Company’s proposed Just and Equitable Transition assistance package to the Navajo Nation.
She responded to the utility giant’s announcement with a written statement from her organization, which claims Kykotsmovi as its mailing address.
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